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- Written by: Lake County News Reports
Counter to the national trend, 26 of the 219 metropolitan statistical areas analyzed in the report (12 percent) posted a year-over-year increase in foreclosure activity in the first six months of 2018, including Houston, Texas (up 10 percent); Dallas-Fort Worth, Texas (up 11 percent); Cleveland, Ohio (up 4 percent); Phoenix, Arizona (up 5 percent); and Indianapolis (up 2 percent).
“Localized foreclosure flare-ups in the first half of 2018 can no longer be blamed on legacy distress left over from the last housing bubble given that nearly half of all active foreclosures are now tied to loans originated in 2009 or later and given that the average time to foreclose plummeted in the first two quarters of the year,” said Daren Blomquist, senior vice president with ATTOM Data Solutions. “Instead these local foreclosure increases are typically the result of more recent distress triggers in those markets.
“We’re also seeing early evidence of gradually loosening lending standards starting in 2014, specifically for FHA-backed loans,” Blomquist added. “The foreclosure rate on FHA loans originated in 2014 and 2015 has now jumped above the average FHA foreclosure rate for all loan vintages — the only two post-recession vintages with foreclosure rates above that overall average.”
Nationwide 0.27 percent of all housing units (one in every 370) had a foreclosure filing in the first six months of 2018.
States with the highest foreclosure rates in the first half of 2018 were New Jersey (0.80 percent); Delaware (0.57 percent); Maryland (0.50 percent); Illinois (0.44 percent); and Connecticut (0.40 percent).
Other states with first-half 2018 foreclosure rates among the 10 highest nationwide were South Carolina (0.39 percent); Ohio (0.37 percent); Nevada (0.37 percent); Florida (0.37 percent); and New Mexico (0.35 percent).
Among 219 metropolitan statistical areas analyzed in the report, those with the highest foreclosure rates in the first half of 2018 were Atlantic City, New Jersey (1.48 percent of all housing units with a foreclosure filing); Trenton, New Jersey (0.96 percent); Flint, Michigan (0.95 percent); Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (0.64 percent); and Columbia, South Carolina (0.58 percent).
Other metro areas with foreclosure rates ranking among the top 10 highest in the first half of 2018 were Cleveland, Ohio (0.58 percent); Albuquerque, New Mexico (0.55 percent); Rockford, Illinois (0.53 percent); Peoria, Illinois (0.52 percent); and Baltimore, Maryland (0.52 percent).
A total of 191,914 U.S. properties started the foreclosure process in the first six months of 2018, down 8 percent from the first half of 2017 and down 82 percent from a peak of 1,074,471 in the first half of 2009.
Counter to the national trend, 22 states posted a year-over-year increase in foreclosure starts in the first half of 2018, including Texas (up 11 percent); Michigan (up 5 percent); Arizona (up 1 percent); Indiana (up 51 percent); and Tennessee (up 13 percent).
Also counter to the national trend, 88 of the 219 metro areas analyzed in the report (40 percent) posted year-over-year increases in foreclosure starts in the first half of 2018, including Houston, Texas (up 25 percent); Dallas-Fort Worth, Texas (up 17 percent); Las Vegas, Nevada (up 7 percent); Detroit, Michigan (up 23 percent); and Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minnesota (up 50 percent).
A total of 133,290 U.S. properties were repossessed by lenders through foreclosure (REO) in the first half of 2018, down 21 percent from the first half of 2017 and down 75 percent from a peak of 529,633 in the first half of 2010.
All but one state (New Mexico) posted a year-over-year decrease in REOs in the first half of 2018.
Q2 2018 foreclosure activity below pre-recession levels in 55 percent of markets
A total of 188,843 U.S. properties had a foreclosure filing in Q2 2018, down 1 percent from the previous quarter and down 14 percent from a year ago.
The second quarter of 2018 was the seventh consecutive quarter in which U.S. foreclosure activity was below the pre-recession average of 278,912 properties with foreclosure filings per quarter in 2006 and 2007.
Foreclosure activity in the second quarter of 2018 was below pre-recession averages in 121 of the 219 metropolitan statistical areas analyzed in the report (55 percent), including Los Angeles, California (56 percent below); Chicago, Illinois (25 percent below); Dallas-Fort Worth, Texas (75 percent below); Houston, Texas (37 percent below); and Miami, Florida (55 percent below).
Counter to the national trend, 98 of the 219 metropolitan statistical areas analyzed in the report (45 percent) posted Q2 2018 foreclosure activity totals above their pre-recession averages, including New York-Newark-Jersey City (50 percent above); Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (42 percent above); Washington, D.C. (51 percent above); Boston, Massachusetts (19 percent above); and Baltimore, Maryland (235 percent above);
Average foreclosure timeline decreases for second straight quarter
Properties foreclosed in the second quarter of 2018 took an average of 720 days from the first public foreclosure notice to complete the foreclosure process, down from 791 days in the previous quarter and down from 883 days in the second quarter of 2017 — the second consecutive quarter with a year-over-year decrease and the shortest average foreclosure timeline since Q3 2016.
States with the longest average foreclosure timelines for foreclosures completed in Q2 2018 were Hawaii (1,553 days), Florida (1,166 days), New Jersey (1,161 days), Utah (1,108 days) and Indiana (1,054 days).
States with the shortest average foreclosure timelines for foreclosures completed in Q2 2018 were Arkansas (152 days), Virginia (169 days), New Hampshire (177 days), Mississippi (188 days) and Minnesota (222 days).
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- Written by: California Department of Insurance
Mason Finance joins fewer than 30 other companies that are licensed to offer life settlements in the state.
According to ThinkAdvisor, 86 percent of Americans do not realize that they have the option to sell their life insurance policies to bring in crucial income to cover their urgent expenses.
In fact, seniors over 65 lose $112 billion annually on policies that lapse or are surrendered back to life insurance companies. This is crucial income that could have been used to support their retirement and financial planning goals.
"I commend Mason Finance for its innovative and new approach to making life settlements available to seniors whose life insurance policies are at risk of lapsing or who need to access the value of their life insurance policy immediately," said Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones. "It's encouraging to see companies developing innovative products and business models designed to better serve the needs of Californians. We welcome more providers to join the California market."
Mason Finance provides a transparent and accessible service for all policy owners, including those whose life policies are below $250,000 in face value and typically struggle to access the life settlement market. This helps seniors who would otherwise let their life insurance policies lapse and lose the accumulated value of those policies.
Mason Finance uses a web-based approach to selling a policy that reduces the time it takes to make a transaction. The company also posts its fee/commission online and will reject any life settlement requests when it is in the senior's best interest to retain the existing life insurance policy.
"It was a pleasure working with the California Department of Insurance to get licensed," said CEO of Mason Finance, Felix Steinmeyer. "Like the California Department of Insurance, we believe that seniors everywhere should be able to sell their policy instead of lapsing it. These funds often make a meaningful difference in people's' lives. We are proud to bring the people of California a simple, straightforward, and transparent way to sell their life insurance policy."
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- Written by: California Department of Insurance
Assembly Bill 2180, authored by Assemblymember Ash Kalra (D-San Jose), makes changes in law to clarify and improve long-term care insurance and accelerated death benefits statutes.
"As California's aging population and its attendant care needs continue to grow, it is important to ensure statutory improvements like this are adopted to facilitate the policy review process and help provide Californians with more insurance policy choices," said Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones. "I thank the Governor for signing this bill and Assemblymember Kalra for championing it in the Legislature."
California is home to the largest number of seniors age 65 and older in the nation and will grow from about one in five persons by 2030 to nearly one in four in 2040 and beyond.
The expanding aging population will increase the need for long-term care services and may lead to more interest in long-term care insurance as a means to finance those services.
To allow flexibility with long-term care insurance benefits, standards were established to propose an "alternate plan of care" under which an insurer would pay for services not otherwise covered by the insurance policy.
Additionally, many Californians choose to protect themselves by purchasing a life insurance policy that allows them to receive an accelerated death benefit in the event of a qualifying catastrophic or chronic illness.
AB 2180 clarifies standards and processes for the certification of an insured's chronic illness, provides standardized terms and procedures for alternate plans of care, and defines certain benefit payment, claim, and application requirements with improved clarity and/or specificity.
The changes in AB 2180 will help insurers write more compliant forms and will eliminate delays in the policy approval process, which in turn will help insurers bring new insurance products to market faster, while providing consumers more products to choose from.
These changes are effective Jan. 1, 2019.
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- Written by: Clear Lake Chamber of Commerce
The celebration will take place from 8 a.m. to noon, with the ribbon cutting at 8 a.m.
The new store is located at 15930 Dam Road, Unit C.